Calculating Average Depth of Precipitation:

3 Methods

1. Arithmetic Mean:
When the area of the basin is less than 500 km2 this method implies
summing up of all the rainfall values from all the raingauging stations and
then dividing it by the number of stations in that basin. The method
becomes very clear by the use of a tabular form.

To explain, there are in all four rain-gauging stations A, B, C, D in the basin,

whose rainfall values are given in the table 2.3? Sum of the rainfall values
comes out to be 21.2 cm. It is divided by number of stations to give average
depth of precipitation which comes out to be 5.3 cm.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

This method gives accurate results if the stations are uniformly distributed
over the area. There should not be much variation in the rainfall values of
the stations under consideration. Drawback of this method is the stations
just outside of the basin are not considered although these stations might
have some influence on the basin under consideration.
2. Theissen Polygon Method:
This method is very accurate. It is used for basins having areas between 500
5000 km2. This method can be best understood with the help of Fig. 2.7.

The firm closing line shows a basin having an area between

500 to 5000 sq km. Let there be rain-gauging stations A, B,
C, D, E and F. It is assumed that each station has its own
domain in the total area. While finding out the average
value of rainfall it is very essential to divide the total basin
area in such a way that each station enclosed in a particular
area represents that area in true sense.

The domain of each rain recording gauge station can be marked as now
mentioned here. Join all the stations to each of the adjacent stations by
dotted line so as to form a system of triangles. Rain-gauging stations form
vertices of the triangles. Then draw the perpendicular bisector of each of the
sides of all the triangles. In Fig. 2.7 triangles are shown by dotted lines and
perpendicular bisectors by firm lines. As a result the whole basin area is
divided into number of polygons.

Remarkable thing is one polygon enclose only one rain-gauging station.

Each polygon is the domain of the rain-gauging station which is enclosed in
it. The justification for it can now be given. Each firm line is perpendicular
bisector of the line joining two stations. So any point on this line will be
equidistant form both the stations. If we go slightly this or that side of the
bisector our position will distinctly fall in the domain of that station to
which our position is now nearer.
Naturally perpendicular bisector will mark the boundary of the domain. As
all the sides of the polygons for all the stations are perpendicular bisectors
the new polygons system drawn by firm lines in Fig. 2.7 represents the
domain of various stations. Thus the domain of each station can be plotted.
Then the area of each domain can be found by use of a graph paper or a
planimeter.

The values can now be tabulated as shown below:

To explain the procedure, column:

(i) Shows the various rain-gauging stations, column

(ii) The amount of rainfall at each station, column,

(iii) Gives area of each polygonal domain of the stations and column,

(iv) Gives weighted depth of rainfall which is obtained by multiplying values

in columns 2 and 3.

Now, mean depth of rainfall = ( column No. 4)/( column No. 3)

Column number 3 = Total area of basin = a + b + c + d + e + f

Mean depth of rainfall = (5.6a + 4.9b + 5.2c + 5.4d x 5.5e + 5.2f)/(a + 6 + c
+ d + e+ f )

3. Iso-Hyetal Method:
As contours are lines joining points of equal height, iso-hyetes are the Knes
joining the points of equal depth of precipitation. The properties of iso-
hyetes are similar to that of contours.

For example:
i. Two different iso-hyetes do not cross each other;

ii. Iso-hyet of higher value shows the places which receive more rainfall;

iii. Each iso-hyet must close on itself or must go out of the area under
consideration.

Iso-hyetal method is used for basins having area more than 5000 km2
For a given basin iso-hyetes are drawn by joining the points of equal depth
of precipitation as shown in Fig. 2.8. The points of equal depth of
precipitation can be computed by the method of estimation from the rainfall
values of rain- gauging stations.

In Fig. 2.8 dotted lines show iso-hyetes and the outer most firm line is basin
boundary. The interval of iso-hyetes is 1 cm. The highest spot rainfall value
in area is 9.4 cm. Now the areas between two successive iso-hytes can be
found by using a graph paper or a planimeter.
The rest of the procedure of finding out average or mean depth of rainfall is
done by tabulating the values as shown in Table 2.5.

To explain, column (1) shows the iso-hyetal interval of successive iso-hyetes,

column (2) gives the average of the two extreme values of interval, column
(3) gives the area enclosed between two successive iso-hyetes and column
(4) shows mean of interval multiplied by the area of interval.

Now, Mean depth of rainfall = column No. 4/ column No. 3

column number 3 = Total area of basin = a + b + c + d + e

Mean depth of rainfall = (9.2a+ 8.5b +7.5c + 6.5d x 5.5e)/a + b+ c + d + e

Problem:
A drainage basin has the catchment area of 626 km2. There are in all 11 rain-
gauging stations of which 6 are within the catchment and 5 are in the
vicinity but outside the catchment. The point rainfall observed during a
particular storm at various stations has been shown in Fig. 2.9. (a).

Figure 2.9. (6). It is given that the areas of the polygons and the
rainfall station with its value is as follows:

Calculate average depth of precipitation over the catchment by arithmetic

mean, Thiessen polygon and Isohyetal methods and compare the results.
Solution:
Step 1: Arithmetic Average Method:
Referring Fig. 9(a). There are 6 stations within the catchment.

Average depth of ppt. = (1.46 + 1.92 + 2.69 + 4.50 + 2.98 + 5.00)/6 = 3.09
cm

Step 2: Thiessen Polygon Method:

Referring to Fig. 9(b) the precipitation and areas can be tabulated as in
Table 2.3.

Average depth of ppt. = 2.84 cm

Step 3: Isohyetal Method:

Referring to Fig. 9(c) the iso-hyetal interval and area enclosed can be
tabulated as follows to work out the average depth as on in Table 2.4.
Average depth of precipitation = Volume of ppt./Area of catchment =
1622/626 = 2.59 cm

Answer:
Average depth of precipitation by the three methods comes out to
be:
Arithmetic mean method =3.09 cm

Thiessen polygon method = 2.84 cm

Isohyetal method = 2.59 cm